


Lonely Too Long

by Ladyfae (Ladysaille)



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25435042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladysaille/pseuds/Ladyfae
Summary: Song Fic - Willow and Angel share a passionate evening, and must confront long ignored truths the morning after.
Relationships: Angel/Willow Rosenberg
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Lonely Too Long

Disclaimer: Willow and Angel and the rest to the BTVS gang belong to Joss, The Wb, UPN, and Mutant enemy, not me. The Song Lonely too long, sung by Patty Loveless and written by Bill Rice, Sharon Vaughn, and Mike Lawler, belongs to its respective copyright holders.

**Lonely Too Long**

Willow sat uneasily at her kitchen table, and for the first time in nearly five years, uncertainty plagued her. Needing diversion, she moved about making breakfast she wouldn’t eat and trying to make sense out of last night. It started out like any other evening. The Bronze, it will be like old times Xander insisted. She’d given in, wanting for a moment to relive a night from their shared past. It certainly hadn’t ended like a night from their past.

Buffy left five years ago, never looking back, though to be fair, Willow was sure, Buffy had little choice. The intervening years were long and deadly and had taken their toll on Sunnydale. People at least had become smart enough to leave, or perhaps new ones merely quit coming; Willow was never sure. Buffy had left senior year after the return of Angel and their bittersweet parting.

Angel, a smile curved Willow’s lips, and warmth flooded her body. Until last night the thoughts of the centuries-old vampire were filled with fondness. He’d always been there, watching from the shadows protecting them. She hadn’t expected to see much of the vampire once he left for L.A. back in September of her first year at college eight years ago. She had graduated with honors, found her work allowed her to stay at home, and bought a house to stay in.

Xander always said the house was too big for just her. He had been right, and this morning it seemed even larger. Willow left the kitchen, and stopped the scattered clothing that littered the floor filled her head with images from the evening before. She picked up the clothing and dropped them into the washer. She was still antsy, and she couldn’t help it. Last night had been, well, something she had never dreamed of, and she still trembled with the memory...her body awash with remembered sensations. She hadn’t known she could feel that way.

She moved to the coffeepot, poured herself a cup and absently turned on the radio. She smiled as soft strains of music filled the kitchen. Something sad and smoky for the moment. She didn’t regret last night and wouldn’t trade a second of it, but where did it leave them.

They had met at the Bronze after Xander left, had sat talking until the club had closed, finally coming to her house, where they had talked more, over late-night coffee. With not even alcohol to blame, she couldn’t contribute her actions on lowered inhibitions - not that it would have happened had she been drinking. She knew him well enough to know that he would have stopped had he thought she wasn’t with him one hundred percent. She had been, and no fault could be found with him. She looked up and smiled softly. He was standing there in the bedroom doorway, looking far too sexy, sleep tousled, and warm. His dark hair was all in disarray as though she had only lately run her fingers through it in a fit of passion.

He studied her, and she realized with some relief that he was as uncertain in the morning light as she was. She could hear the song that had begun to play, and somewhere in her mind, she realized the irony. It was as though the whole world knew what happened last night, and they were giving them the okay.

_Well Good Mornin’  
Tell me how’d you sleep last night  
You’re still smiling  
So we must’ve done something right  
Don’t feel guilty  
Because you turned to me last night._

He moved across the kitchen, his gaze locked on her. He stopped in front of her, his dark eyes asked for permission before he leaned down to claim her lips in a tender good morning kiss. She liked it, could get used to it, and she wondered if he was feeling the same things. How long had it been for him? How many women were there in his long line of lovers? Were there many mornings like this for him? Did he know them as he knew her?

_We ain’t done nothin’ wrong  
We’ve just been lonely too long  
No, we ain’t done nothing wrong  
We’ve just been lonely too long_

He drew her into his arms, and she sensed his need to hold her. Was he afraid that she would disappear with the sun’s early morning light? She had half feared that last night had merely been another dream starring a familiar face. That the loneliness had become too much, and she had in her mind turned to the comfort she had always found in his warm brown gaze. She remembered every moment they had spent last night...his first tentative kiss...the shocking hunger that had erupted between them. They had sought something and found it in each other. She rested her head against his chest. She clung to him, to the memory of his flesh beneath her fingertips, as he’d brought every hungry, lonely fantasy she had to life with stunning intensity.

_It’s only natural  
When you’ve been too long in the dark  
To Look for comfort  
And to warm yourself by the fire  
We’re just afraid  
That we might get our fingers burned  
But..._

Angel stared down at her. The desire to speak clear in his fathomless eyes. She understood. Like her, he feared to break whatever spell had woven itself around them in the hours of the night. She smiled, tenderness engulfing her. When had that happened? When had their tentative friendship deepened so, how had it morphed so drastically? How had she not known? Once to love him would have been a betrayal of the worst kind, but Buffy threw away his love. He was fair game, assuming that he wanted her. She stared into his eyes once more, unsure. Had she read more into this? Was last night just a casual one-night stand with an old friend? Somehow, she doubted that he found anything that they had shared casual, but she wanted to be sure. All she had to do was find the courage to ask. Taking a man to bed was easy; facing him in the morning was hard. Really hard when he looked at you with the same uncertain eyes, you looked at him with.

_Nothing’s wrong that can’t be cured with a new love  
All you need is someone like me to be sure of to be your love_

Warmth surrounded him, her arms clung, holding him close. Each unneeded breath he took filled him with her sweet scent. It hadn’t been a mistake, no regret shrouded her, and Angel was certain he was correct. There was nothing casual about the night before. He held back words that even now begged to be spoken for fear of frightening her, but the emotions ate at him from within. She saved his soul, anchored it, and stolen a little piece of his heart that grew when he wasn’t looking until he belonged irrevocably to her.

Last night she held nothing back. Opened herself to him in every sense, heart, mind, body, and soul. She asked for nothing last night...no promises or commitment...and he feared until now he misinterpreted her actions. Maybe she had expected to wake up alone, but he couldn’t do that. She wasn’t some nameless woman he used to ease needs too long denied. She was his friend, dear to him in ways that forbid such an action. 

_I’ll be waiting  
I’ll be waiting right outside your heart  
And I’ll be watching  
For the slightest sign of a spark  
And I’ll be here  
If you should want to turn to me  
‘Cause ..._

“Willow?” he whispered.

She lifted her head, her green eyes warm and filled with tenderness. She reached up, touched his cheek, fingers curving over his jaw. His eyes slid closed as he savored the touch. His track record with human females was abysmal, and yet, last night they had melded in the most elemental sense, a relationship wasn’t usually started on a night of passion like the one they had shared. They weren’t strangers, and their friendship was solid, time and circumstances had separated them, kept them from seeing what might have been when the fires first stirred, but nothing was stopping them now. No one would be hurt by them stealing a little piece of their own heaven. She smiled warmly at him. Pushed herself up to brush her mouth against the underside of his jaw.

“Stay,” she whispered against his skin.

He drew back to study her eyes, needing to see the emotion that clouded her voice.

“Every time you leave, I miss you, and it only gets worse.”

How had she known? She was taking the plunge off the edge, offering up the truth they both ignored for far too long.

He couldn’t find words. How did you respond to having the one thing you’d never dared dream offered to you? Her lips were soft beneath his. They parted with little coaxing, and Angel poured every ounce of desperate tenderness and love that burned within him into that exchange.

“I thought I was alone in this.” He managed when he lifted his mouth from hers.

“I’m with you,” she said, holding his gaze, and hiding nothing from him. “I love you,” she whispered, “I didn’t realize I was in love with you.”

Angel nodded, tightening his hold. “I love you too.” The words never came so easily, but loving Willow wasn’t painful, it was sheer joy. There were no words for how easy she was to love. Tentative friendship had grown, until it caught fire, and burned with a pleasant warmth, and he wanted to explore.

_We ain’t done nothin’ wrong  
we’ve just been lonely too long  
Oh we ain’t done nothin’ wrong  
both been lonely too long  
Just been lonely too long_

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you that are long time fans of the Willow/Angel pairing, you may remember this fic, it was originally written a very long time ago. I've been looking back over my old fanfiction and decided to attempt to post it here and clean it up the best I can. Since, all those years ago, my writing ability was far worse than it is now. I posted a lot of Willow/Angel fanfic under the name Ladyfae.
> 
> This fic wasn't beta read so all mistakes are mine.


End file.
